Soccer team heads for playoffs

The Pagosa Springs High School Boys’ soccer team is playoff-bound, beginning this Friday in Arvada.

The Pirates are seeded 24th moving into this weekend’s action, which starts with top-32 play Friday, ending the regular season with a 9-3 conference record and 10-4 overall record.

Friday, the team will take on No. 9 Basalt on the turf of Faith Christian Academy at 3:30 p.m.

“We are happy with our draw in the playoffs,” Coach Lindsey Kurt-Mason wrote in a statement to The SUN. “Basalt always produces a tough team but we are up to the challenge. The guys are playing very solid defense and Quinn (Smith) is quite a presence in the box. It is exciting soccer — full of energy and tempo.”

The winner of Friday’s game will move on to play the winner of No. 8 Faith Christian and No. 25 Fountain Valley (to be decided at 1 p.m. on Friday) the following day at 10 a.m.

En route to that No. 24 seed, the Pirates rounded out their regular season with a loss to the undefeated Telluride Miners (11-0-1 in league play) on. Oct. 19.

Telluride moves into the playoffs as the 14-seeded team and takes on No. 19 Arrupe Jesuit Friday at Coal Ridge High School.

The Pirates lost 1-0 to the Miners on Oct. 19 in a game that was scoreless until the 72nd minute, when Smith came out of the goal, giving way to a ball chipped into the net.

Despite that, the game was relatively even, as evidenced by the Pirates’ 19 shots on goal, compared to Telluride’s 21.

Smith recorded 14 saves on the game, while his counterpart recorded 11.

A game summary on the day’s score sheet notes that the Pirate defense was, “much improved” from the last game with Telluride and that, from the start of the game, it was evident it would be a one-goal game.

The Pirates previously lost 3-1 to the Miners in September in Telluride.

Note: A previous article gave credit for a goal to Connor Burksmith, when, in fact, that goal was scored by Connor Bjork.